Only time will tell
by A.Single.Gal
Summary: Few months later, after Sara left Las Vegas, a new CSI came to work with the team. GSR story told from the CSI's POV... Hope you like it!
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: **__I will like to thank __**HighRoadS2**__ for her help, and also give her a special dedication since I know how much she loves Sara._

_Also, special thanks for all those loyal readers, I love you all, and I hope you like this fic. I hope is not as hard to read as hard as it's been for me writing it. _

_So this one is for the best character this show will ever have__; Sara Sidle. We learned a lot from her. We also smiled, laughed, SQUEEEE, cursed, and cried next to her. She will never be forgotten. Sara Sidle, You RULE! _

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There's a new CSI named Carol in the lab; she had been working there for only a couple of months now, so she didn't know much about what the walls of the lab have seen and heard with time to time. She was sitting at the table in the break room, enjoying her break. Brass happened to be there taking a break, too. He noticed that she was reading a romantic novel, so decided to start a conversation with her. 

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" Brass asked casually, sipping his coffee mug.

"I'm not sure," Carol confessed, blushing a little.

"Well," Brass started, "I noticed you there reading your novel, so I figured you must be kind of a romantic yourself." Brass explained with a grin.

"What," Carol sounded interested, "do you have a good love story to tell?"

"How much time do you have?" Brass cocked his eyebrow, willing to share his story with her. She just smiled and closed her book, looking interested.

"The story begins ten years ago, in 1998; the annual Forensic academy conference was taking place in San Francisco," Brass began. "There's where they met; Sara Sidle was working for the San Francisco Coroner's office. Gil Grissom was one of the visiting lecturers; he went there all the way from Vegas. Sara happened to be sitting in the first row of his first lecture…"

…_Sara had never heard about this Gil Grissom, but __to Sara's surprise, everybody else there had. She casually heard the comments about him while she waited for the lecture to start. Some where saying that even though he was a wisdom man and he knew a lot, he was arrogant. Others, especially the ladies, mentioned about how smart and handsome he was. Sara just shook her head and smiled to herself. Moments later, everybody else went back to their seats, since the lecture was about to start._

_Gil Grissom started his lecture a few seconds after he had been introduced to the audience. Sara sat there and listened to every word he said, taking notes. It didn't take long for Sara to become amazed by him. _

_Sara Sidle was a__ learner – she was a person who grasped everything she could so she can have it in hand when she may need it. So she started to ask him questions, questions that the rest of the audience could never understand. These questions turned into a little debate between Sara and Grissom. The rest of the audience just listened, amazed, since for the first time in Grissom's history in that event, someone stood near his level and could give him another point of view on his own subject._

_Time flew by, so Grissom had to interrupt his debate with Sara and declared the lecture as over. Sara stood up from her seat, as Grissom extended his hand to her, he said "Nice meeting you, Sara Sidle." And finished with a smile, reading the name on her name tag._

_Sara smiled back and accepted his hand shake, reveling in its warmth. "Nice meeting you too, Dr. Grissom," she replied, and turned to walk away. _

"_I'll see you around." Grissom added. Sara smiled back at him and kept walking._

_After the coffee break, Sara decided to go into Grissom's next lecture. Again she sat in the first row, but this time it was harder to pay attention to what he was saying; she kept losing herself in his deep blue eyes. She only asked a couple of questions this time, too. _

_Sara was lost in her thoughts when she realized that the lecture was over and Grissom had already thanked his audience for their attention and dismissed them. Sara got up from her seat and walked out. Grissom met her by the door, "So you were a little quiet this time." Grissom noticed. Sara was nervous, and words wouldn't come out from her mouth, so she just gave him a shy smile. Grissom's cell rang at that moment, so he had to excuse himself, "Well, see you around, Sara Sidle." He added. This time, Sara felt butterflies in her stomach after hearing him say her name._

_The next day, __Sara went to his lecture again, and this time she was trying to control herself. They had their little debate ritual at the end as usual. This time Grissom asked her to wait a minute before leaving. Sara did so. He asked her if she was interested in continuing their little debate during the coffee break. She accepted. _

_They left the conference room, and Grissom asked her if she knew a nice place where they could have a cup of coffee without being interrupted. Sara was amazed, thinking they were having the cup of coffee there. But still, she told him that actually she knew a place a few blocks from the hotel. They started to walk there._

"_So, Sara Sidle," Grissom started sipping his cup of coffee "__Tell me something about you." He requested with a smile._

"_Um, well" Sara started, "I graduated from Harvard; I work for the Coroner's office here in San Francisco." She smiled, "Um, I speak 3 languages-"_

"_Really?" Grissom interrupted her, amazed "English…" He guessed._

"_Spanish and Latin." She added. "What about you?" She asked sipping her cup of coffee._

"_English, Spanish, Latin, Japanese and some French." He let her know, meeting his eyes with Sara's and sharing a smile. "So," He continued__, "I know that you are well read, and that you like science, what about entomology, are you interested in that field?" _

"_Bugs?" Sara thought out loud, "I… Um, w__ell, I'm not an expert but yeah, I know the basics," She answered nervously, knowing that that was a trick question to win some affection on his part. "So, the Vegas crime lab?" Sara tried to change the subject, "Wow, impressive."_

"_Yeah, I wouldn't change it for anything." He let her know firmly._

"_Who would?" Sara agreed. Time passed by while Sara and Grissom connected in a deep level, without them even noticing. It was time to go back to the hotel, since Grissom had to give another lecture._

_It was the third day of the lecture, __and last one. Sara waited for Grissom inside the conference room while he gathered his things and got ready to leave the room. _

"_I brought you this book." Grissom let her now taking this small book from his suitcase. _

"_Thanks," Sara smiled at him, and took the book._

"_I hope you give it a try." Grissom teased her, knowing that she was not that into insects._

"_Yeah..." Sara replied getting nervous, trying not to offend him._

"_Are you okay?" Grissom asked, noticing Sara's uneasiness._

"_Well," Sara started, but instead of asking him what she had in mind, she found herself asking him questions about Anthropology, all related to his latest lecture, of course. After ten or so questions she finally got the nerve to ask him to join her for dinner. He took a moment to consider it, which made Sara more nervous. _

"_What do you have in mind?" He answered, accepting her invitation._

"_Do you like Chinese?" Sara smiled, "You haven't been in San Francisco without going to China Town." She let him know. _

"_Isn't that a little distant from here?" He asked curiously._

"_I promise I will drive you back." She smiled…_

"And so they did, they went to have dinner at China Town, they have a great time there, and Sara did drive him back to the hotel," Brass concluded.

"But wait…" Carol wondered, "He came back to Vegas right?"

"Of course," Brass let her know, "He said he wouldn't change the lab for anything, remember?"

"So they never met again?" Carol was confused, "You know that every good love story has a happy ending right?" She cocked her eyebrow, thinking that Brass' love story was a rip-off.

"Well, if it makes you feel better," Brass added, "They exchanged business cards before Grissom got off the car that night," he smirked.

Carol was about to say something when they were interrupted by the rest of the team; it was time to get back to work.

"See you around." Brass smiled while Carol left the room, then he sighed, full of nostalgia thinking about Grissom and Sara.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	2. Chapter 2

Carol was passing by Grissom's office after picking a DNA test from Hodges, she took a look inside the peculiar office and sighed, thinking about the story Brass was telling her before.

She met with Catherine in the lockers room. "Are you okay?" Catherine asked, noticing Carol's faraway look.

"Have you heard that story about Grissom and some girl named Sara?" Carol wondered.

"Heard?" Catherine smiled, "I saw it happen," Catherine let her know. "We all did. It happened right in front of us and we didn't even notice for a long time."

"You were all in San Francisco for that conference?" Carol asked, curious about how the story continued.

"No. It happened here in Vegas," Catherine corrected her. "How do you know about it, anyways?" Catherine asked, since the team hadn't talked about it in a while.

"Brass was telling me about it." Carol shrugged.

"Where did he stop?" Catherine asked, offering to tell her more about it.

"Well, Sara and Grissom where saying goodbye before he came back to Vegas," Carol filled her in.

"Well, two years later, we had an incident here in the lab," Catherine started.

"Wait," Carol interrupted her, "So they didn't see or speak to one another for two whole years?" Carol wondered aloud.

"I have no idea," Catherine admitted, "So, Grissom decided to call Sara so she could help him with the incident…"

"_I don't even have to turn around. Sara Sidle__." Grissom said to Sara, who was standing right behind him, ready to help him out. They chit chatted about dummies and computer simulations but then went straight to the point of Sara's visiting. There was a new member in the team and she had gotten shot while she was working in her crime scene, and the blame was on Warrick. Grissom wanted Sara to find out what really happened. _

_You could tell that both of them were thrilled to see each other again, so they decided to take some time before starting with the case and have lunch._

_Lunch helped them catch up with what was going on in their lives back then, Sara was now a CSI Level Three and Grissom was the supervisor of the graveyard shift at LVPD. Besides that, everything was pretty much the same._

_Word on the street is that Sara misread everything Grissom did when it came about what they had. Sara always read too much into things, she was very over-sensitive, and even though she was a tough woman, her weaknesses were more damaging to her than what her strength was in keeping her in one piece. _

_Sara did help with that case and solved it, __and without her, the team would never have made it, but she was in Vegas for a different reason, and she may had thought that Grissom was on the same page – if he was or not, that's something only he knows._

_The day for Sara to go back to San Francisco__ had arrived, and Grissom offered to take her to the airport. It was time for them to say goodbye again. Sara was turning around when Grissom realized that he needed to at least see her everyday. So he grabbed her arm and asked her to wait. "Please stay." Grissom asked looking straight into Sara's eyes. Sara frowned, so he asked her again. "Please stay here with me, with the lab." Sara smiled and agreed to stay._

"That was the beginning of disaster," Catherine rolled her eyes, but giggled while remembering those days; Carol was thrilled that Sara decided to stay. "Sara read too much into things, and Grissom denied that he's human and it's okay to feel strongly for someone?" Catherine simplified.

"Uh, drama. I like that." Carol grinned, but wanted to know more about Grissom and Sara.

"So you know, Sara started to work in the lab, and of course Grissom was her supervisor and everything, so you know how that works…"

…_There was constant flirting between the two of them, Sara was very smart and she was the only one that could see at Grissom's level; she was also well read so that gave her the advantage to understand every single reference that he made, She was learning about his field – entomology – and there was a connection between her and Grissom that no one else had with him._

_As time passed by, Sara's feelings for Grissom started to grow deeper – this was pretty obvious for the rest of the team – and Grissom, without noticing, was falling for her too. But the problem was that Grissom didn't want to admit it, and Sara thought he didn't want a relationship like that, so that created some sort of conflict and sometimes tension between them. _

_With time, Sara had had enough, she was sick of taking all that crap from Grissom, but she never had the courage to let him know how she felt, she always gave him hints, but Grissom, he could never understand what Sara was trying to let him know. _

_The lab was very close to losing __Sara a couple of times, but she never seemed to let go from Grissom. Until the day she met Hank. _

"Boy that moron helped," Catherine interrupted herself, remembering Hank.

"Who was he?" Carol wondered, curious, but not liking Catherine's expression when she described Hank.

"Hank, he was this young paramedic." Catherine sighed, getting back to the story. "Sara met him during one of her cases; I think it had been only a year since she moved to Vegas when they met."

_Sara liked Hank's company, and at first it seemed that it was kee__ping her distracted from her pining for her boss, so she kept Hank close to her, and it didn't take her long to start dating him regularly. She never told Grissom about Hank, but it didn't take long for Grissom to find out about the relationship. This only brought more tension between Sara and Grissom, but Sara kept her relationship with Hank. _

"How long did that relationship last?" Carol interrupted.

"Almost a year." Catherine let her know, "The bastard was cheating on her, so she dumped him in the end."

"Wow, that's some angst there for Sara." Carol felt sorry for her.

"Yeah. But don't worry, Sara got over Hank pretty quickly." Catherine told her. "Now let's go back to work, shall we?" Catherine got up from the bench in the lockers room and shared a smile with Carol.

TO BE CONTINUED… 


	3. Chapter 3

Carol was captivated with the story; she couldn't wait to hear how it turned out. She could feel that the moment Grissom decided – if he ever did – to open himself to Sara then that would be it, that will mean that they stayed together for the rest of their lives. But she also knew that there was too much to learn about this story to jump to conclusions.

Carol was in the break room, impatiently wanting to know more. Warrick came in and noticed quickly her impatient composure.

"Well, I just find out about this story that happened right here in the lab." Carol grinned as if asking him to continue the story telling for her.

"Story?" Warrick was confused. "What story?"

"The love story," Carol clarified.

"Oh, that story." Warrick nodded, knowing right away that she was talking about Grissom and Sara. "What do you know so far?" He asked, trying to catch up with her.

"Well, Sara just broke up with Hank," Carol replied.

"Oh yeah. That was a pretty hard year for Sara." Warrick remembered, shaking his head. "Well, she did move on pretty fast," Warrick continued, "Did you hear about the explosion we had that year?" Warrick wondered, "I think it was in 2003." Warrick refreshed his mind with the thought of the explosion. "Yeah, Sara was walking through the hallway when the lab blew up, but don't worry, she was fine she only had a few cuts in her hands and face."

…_Sara was still shocked about the incident; she was sitting on the side walk while paramedics came in and out of the building. She couldn't think about what just happened, she was too shocked__, and all she could make sense of was his warm hand caressing her own hurt one. Grissom was asking too many questions that she couldn't answer. One line she did get, however, and it was when he was checking her arms and hands for severe injures. "Honey, this doesn't look good." Grissom said to her, noticing a cut she had across her hand. Sara just kept telling him that she was fine and that they needed to go back to work, but Grissom didn't hear her and asked a paramedic to take care of her._

_Later that day, Sara came into his office, but he was on his way out. Sara casually mentioned that they both had the night off, but Grissom changed the subject to her behavior and situation after the incident. Sara, again, insisted that she was fine. After a second of silence Sara asked him to join her for dinner, but Grissom rejected the invitation. Sara asked why._

"_Let's have dinner, and see what happens," Sara offered, the pain of rejection already coursing through her._

"_Sara," Grissom started walking toward the door, where Sara was standing, "I don't know what to do about this." Grissom made a faint gesture between the two of them._

"_I do." Sara snapped back, obviously hurt, "And for the time you figure it out, you really could be too late." Sara added, then turned and left before he could say anything else._

_The next year was __hard between them; the tension they usually had increased after Sara's offer of starting a formal relationship. Sara even admitted it herself, she was always over talking around him, which didn't help at all._

_But it wasn't until a few months later when things got really ugly. There was a case about a doctor who was dating a nurse; the doctor was remarkably older than the nurse. One day the nurse decided to end things with this doctor and move on with her life. The doctor found out about her new relationship and he couldn't take it, and decided to kill them both. _

_Grissom took this case remotely too personal, he spent day and night working on it. It took us some time to realize what was so special about it. Well, he saw himself on that doctor, and how the doctor made the decision of giving everything away for love; thing that he couldn't do. Maybe he was too tired, who knows but he told the doctor this, without realizing that Sara was on the other side of the interrogation room hearing him say that he was not capable of opening himself to her._

_She didn't speak to him for days, and it seemed that the distance she was keeping between them kind of made him miss her, but she was determined to move on._

"Again." Carol interrupted, noticing that Sara had tried that several times.

"Yeah. Again," Warrick agreed, rolling his eyes.

"Did she ever get over him?" Carol wondered.

"Oh, c'mon." Warrick joked, "You really want me to spoil the end for you?" Carol shook her head and let him continue, "So… Sara started to be really hostile toward him, but time to time couldn't help but to flirt a little. All this angst did lead her to become kind of an alcoholic…And of course Grissom by being a moron didn't help."

"What do you mean? I mean, yeah, he treated her like crap, but what did he do now?"

"Well, Sara was trying to leave him behind, right? So she decided to apply for this other position a few months, and obviously this meant that if she ever got the job they wouldn't see each other that regularly. Grissom couldn't afford that, so decided to recommend Nick for the position, instead."

"…And Sara found out," Carol guessed.

"Yep. And it wasn't pleasant…"

"_You said you didn't have a problem with me." Sara managed to let him know, obviously hurt._

"_I don't." Grissom agreed. Sara asked then why he recommended Nick for the promotion instead of her. His answer didn't help at all, "because he didn't care if he got the job or not," he replied._

"_That's a stupid reason,"__ Sara snapped, not believing him._

_A few days later, Sara was stopped by a police officer because of driving under the influence of alcohol. He took her to the station so she could wait for Grissom to pick her up. _

_Grissom was informed about Sara's situation and he immediately drove over there to pick her up. He took seat next to her, and she couldn't even look at him. Without saying a word, he held her hand and offered her to drive her home. _

"Warrick, Greg needs help in the garage," Catherine interrupted them. Warrick excused himself and left with Catherine, leaving Carol there

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	4. Chapter 4

Carol and Greg were having lunch at a local diner near their crime scene. Carol was still thinking about that story and she decided to ask Greg more about it.

"You know," Carol started very casually, "Some of the guys were telling me about this story that you guys have." She let him know, and took a sip from her glass of water. "About Grissom and Sara?"

"Oh, Sara," Greg remembered with a smile, "She went through a lot, you know," Greg added.

"Yeah," Carol agreed, "Were you two close friends?"

"We were, indeed," Greg replied proudly. "We were very close." He sighed with nostalgia.

"Do you know how her drinking problem went?" Carol tried to sound casual, but trying to make Greg tell her more about the story.

"Drinking problem?" Greg frowned, "That was years ago." He cocked his eyebrow, a little confused.

"Yeah, well." Carol clarified, "That's all I know." She smiled nervously.

"God. That was my first year as a CSI." Greg refreshed his memory, "Ecklie had just split the team leaving Grissom, Sara and me in the graveyard shift, and moving Catherine, Warrick and Nick to swing," he began.

"That must have had been very difficult for the team." Carol realized.

"You bet it was." Greg agreed, "Anyways, Sara stared to go to these PEAP consoling sessions, regarding her drinking problem. They demanded Sara to let her supervisor know how her process was going. I think this helped them open up to each other a little bit."

…_Sara came i__nto Grissom's office one night and told him that Ecklie was asking about their Post PEAP sessions, which they hadn't had yet. Grissom apologized to her, saying that she shouldn't have to lie for her boss._

"_You've always been a little more than a boss to me," Sara let him know with a smile, "Why do you think I moved to Vegas?"_

_Grissom froze at this comment and Sara noticed, so she __kept talking, saying that she knew their relationship had been complicated, and that it was her fault. Grissom asked if she finished the PEAP sessions, which she had, so Grissom asked how they were._

"_Let's just say that, sometimes I look for validation in the inappropriate places." Sara admitted, again leaving him wordless. Grissom tried to say something about it, but he couldn't, so Sara decided to leave it like that; thanked him, left the office._

"She was always putting it out there for him, huh?" Carol interrupted.

"You're tellin' me," Greg replied, "But this time it actually helped. A few days later, Sara got very emotional with this case, and ended blowing up with Catherine and Ecklie, Ecklie was not happy about Sara's behavior so he suspended her."

"And how is that good?" Carol cocked her eyebrow at Greg.

…_Grissom find out that Sara has been suspended, so went to her place to see how she was doing. Grissom was determined to know what was really affecting Sara._

"_I have a problem with authority, I choose men who are emotionally unavailable, I'm self destructive. All of the above," Sara spat out._

_But Grissom didn't give up, but after a few hours, Sara finally gave in. They were sitting in Sara's living room while she was telling him about her dark childhood._

"…_The fights, the yelling, the trips to the hospital." Sara remembered, trying to contain her tears. "I thought that was the way everybody lived." She managed to say. "When my mother killed my father, I found out that it wasn't." Sara finished, and broke down. She hid her face in her hands and sobbed. Grissom reached for her hand and took it – the only real warmth Sara ever knew was when she felt his hand in hers. _

_After a while, Grissom had to get back to work, so Sara walked him to the door. Grissom was about to leave when Sara stopped him. _

"_Grissom," She called out for him "thanks for coming." She smiled._

"_See you tomorrow at work." He smiled back. _

"_What about Ecklie?" Sara pointed out, remembering him that she was suspended. _

_Grissom standing in front of her__, reached for her hand, "I'll take care of that." _

_Sara gazed up into Grissom's deep blue eyes for a few long moments until she lost her confidence and again looked down. Grissom __reached for her cheek slowly, wiping a stray tear away. Sara closed her eyes feeling his warm fingers on her face. Then, Grissom gently pushed her chin up so their eyes could meet again. Sara slowly opened her eyes while Grissom took a step forward getting closer to her. Then he ran his fingers through her hair and slowly started to lean in, brushing his lips with hers, then kissed her full-on._

"And they lived happily ever after," Carol interrupted, excitedly realizing that Grissom finally knew what to do about their situation. Greg just looked at her, wondering if she wanted to hear the rest of the story. "Sorry, go on," Carol apologized.

"Well, Grissom went back to the lab to let Ecklie know that Sara wasn't going anywhere," Greg let her know. "You know I was the only one working with them, and didn't realize they were already together." Greg shook his head, not believing how blind he was. "Things got lighter at work for them, they didn't fight about silly stuff anymore, and the tension between them disappeared."

"Well, you were a Rocky." Carol tried to make Greg feel better.

"You know, they stopped working late, giving silly excuses," Greg remembered, "I remember once, Grissom made me go home in the middle of the shift."

"Well, maybe they had plans for that night." Carol smiled.

"Well, that will explain the huge smile they had on their face the next day," Greg finally realized, making Carol giggled. "Oh boy, they were so dirty..." Greg wrinkled his nose, realizing about all the moments between them that he didn't notice back then.

"Well, they had to recover all that time wasted."

"Oh God, don't even say it," Greg wrinkled his nose, "Can we continue this later?" Greg asked her, not being able to concentrate. "I mean, we are eating here," Greg explained.

Carol agreed laughing at the hard time Greg was having.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	5. Chapter 5

Carol and Nick were driving back to the lab after spending the evening on field. Carol turned to look at Nick while he was driving and went directly to her point:

"So how long did it take you to find out about Sara and Grissom?" she asked casually, gazing out the window.

Nick was amazed she knew about them, "Well longer than what it took you." Nick was impressed, "How do you know about Sara?" Nick was curious.

"Well, I don't know that much," she replied, eager for more. "But you can fill me in if you want to." Carol grinned.

Nick just laughed, "You know, we haven't talked about them for a while…" Nick let her know, not looking away from the road. "Well, they kept their relationship from us, so I don't know a lot," he confessed.

"I'll take what you have." Carol was desperate to know more.

"Well, they were happy for sure." Nick turned to her, smiling.

"You know, I like details." Carol smiled back.

"Well, I can give you some anecdotes." Nick offered since that relationship was still one of the biggest mysteries in the lab.

"I'm not picky." Carol agreed to hear some funny stories.

"Well, Grissom is the kind of guy that goes fast by going slow." Nick started, "and they decided that besides hiding the relationship from us, they were going to take it slow. The first months of their relationship were very passionate, and as time passed by, they both realized that they couldn't live without the other." Nick continued, sighing. "They had been dating for about seven months when Grissom asked Sara to move in with him."

"That's what I love about that kind of man." Carol pointed out.

"The Grissom kind of man?" Nick made sure he understood what Carol meant.

"Yeah. The moment they finally open them selves to you, they… Let's just say that they make you feel so loved and make you realize that all the hell they put you through was worth it."

"Well, I don't know what you're talking about." Nick continued, "But yeah. Grissom loved Sara with all his heart."

"That's what I'm talking about." Carol let him know. "So, Sara and Grissom moved in together…" Carol tried to get back to the story.

"Oh, not that fast." Nick corrected her "Grissom asked and Sara rejected the offer."

"Ouch." Carol felt sorry for Grissom.

"Sara did find the idea of moving in together fascinating, but she thought it was too soon, seeing how they spent every minute together. Grissom took the rejection very personal…"

_It__ had been a few days since Sara had turned him down and Grissom was still hurt. They hadn't had a chance to talk about it, either._

_That night they were in a crime scene and Sara was taking care of the victims' room when Grissom saw her that night. She pointed out that the husband slept in another room._

"_That's odd." Grissom pointed out__, "A man and a woman, that don't share a bedroom. Arrange to have a night alone, send their daughter to a relative. Go out to dinner, have drinks by the pool, but they sleep in a separate bedroom." He was now without noticing that he could relate._

"_Maybe, one of them snored, or had insomnia, or liked to work at night." Sara gave as suggestions._

"_Or maybe they were suffocating each other, and he couldn't breathe." Grissom said softly, thinking that was the reason why Sara didn't want to move in with him –he was suffocating her. Sara did read what his intention was so she went back to work. _

_She eventually found a sex lubricant bottle, and causally let him know that sleeping in the same bed is not the main point in a relationship, "You know, you don't need to sleep in the same bed together, in order to have sex, or have romance." _

"A few days later, Sara finally gave in and moved in with him," Nick let her know, "God, they did everything in their power for us not to find out they were together." Nick remembered, laughing at how naïve he and the others had been. "They even drove to the lab every day in different car, you know?" He sighed, smiling. "Do you like catfights?" Nick asked Carol, offering to tell her another story.

"If it involves Sara defending her territory from another chick, I do now," Carol agreed.

"Well, there was this cop named Sofia. She kind of had a thing for Grissom." Nick remembered, "The thing is that there was a shooting in this neighborhood once, and a cop died. Sofia was in that shooting, and she wanted to talk about it with Grissom, and you know how that works, so…"

_Sofia __went into Grissom's office trying to make him talk about what happened, and at first he refused. Sofia insisted to make him listen to her, she was telling him about what happened in the scene when Sara came in._

"_Hey Grissom, I have a question—" Sara said, but stopped abruptly when she saw the other CSI in his office. "Sofia?" Sara said, then turned to look at Grissom. He didn't say a word, just stood there looking guilty. _

"_You are on administrative leave." Sara reminded her, finding any excuse to make her leave. "You shouldn't be in this building."_

"_Yeah, I was just talking to a friend of mine." Sofia let her know, "If I can't talk to a friend, who the hell I'm supposed to talk to?"_

"_Any friend outside the department."_

"_Yeah, and how many friends outside work do you have Sara?" Sofia snapped back, "Maybe I should talk to my mother." She guessed Sara's next line, "Oh wait, I forgot she is a cop too." _

"_I can recommend a department of psychologists," Sara suggested, and watched as Sophia left the office._

_Later that day, Sara was sitting at the bar of a local sushi place where she usually had lunch. She was surprised to see Grissom there as well._

"_You and me, here at the same time, what are the odds?" Sara thought out loud, still mad at him._

"_None, Greg told me you were here," Grissom let her know, taking the seat next to hers. "So how's the sushi?" He asked, trying to make her laugh "Oh wait. I forgot; you are a vegetarian." Sara couldn't help to smile, since he remembered for once. _

"_I don't know." Sara replied to his joke, "But the tofu is great."_

"_Tried it once," he admitted "It tasted like brains." He finished, and earned himself a laugh._

_The waitress handed him his order and he stood up from his seat, "This one's on me," he let Sara know, and paid for her food. He then started to walk away, but stopped himself. "I like it when you are mad at me," he paused, eyes smiling into hers, "it makes me feel closer to you." He smiled while Sara just listened, "See you back at the lab." He added, and left Sara standing there, still processing his words._

"Wow, he did know how to get himself out of trouble, huh?" Carol was impressed. "Do you have any more stories?"

"Did you hear that Brass had a surgery couple of years ago?"

"No... What happened?" Carol sounded worried.

"A suspect from a case shot him," Nick filled her in, "No biggy. It was a big pressure for Grissom, though, since he had to choose whether he had the surgery or not." Nick remembered how stressed Grissom was those days. "The surgery went great. But you know all these kind of events; they make you reflect about what's going on in your life…"

"_I don't know," Grissom was talking about death while lying in bed waiting for Sara to come out of the bathroom. "Most people want to__ die in their sleep, I suppose, and never know that it is happening. Like a crime scene: Surprise! You're dead. I'd prefer to know in advance that I was gonna die. I would like to be diagnosed with cancer, actually. Have some time to prepare: Go back to the rain forest one more time, re-read Moby Dick. Possibly enter an international chess tournament. At least have enough time to say goodbye to the people I love…" _

_Sara bent down in front of him, looking contemplative, "I'm not ready to say goodbye," she decided._

Nick turned the engine off since they had arrived at the lab. "Okay, now back to work." He sighed while both got out of the car.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	6. Chapter 6

Carol was on her way back to work after picking some DNA samples from Hodges. She took a second to stand in front of Grissom's office; she noticed that Grissom was out, so she decided to go inside and take a look.

She didn't dare touch anything – instead she settled on just admiring his peculiar collections. She was standing in front of the glass bowl in the middle of his office. The cocoon inside the bowl got her attention, so she took a second to examine it, wondering what the story was behind it. After a minute she kept looking around until she found the five miniatures in line, each one inside their own box. She had heard about them; she knew that they were made by a serial killer and that it took the team a year to catch the girl.

Carol was captivated by the red mustang miniature, since it stood up from the other ones.

"Hey!" Carol jumped when she heard someone behind her, and turned around to find Hodges standing there, "they are pretty impressive, huh?" Hodges said about the miniatures.

"Yeah." Carol agreed with her hand on her chest still trying to recover from the scare Hodges gave her.

"I helped to catch the girl, you know," Hodges let her know, proud of himself. "They all had one thing in common; bleach."

"Congrats." Carol rolled her eyes, "So… you most know a lot about this case."

Hodges stood in front of the first miniature, "Izzy Delancy; Famous Rock star," Hodges let her know while both bent down to look closer. "He died of blunt force trauma to the head. A bleach bottle was placed inside one of the drawers."

They took a small step to the side, bending down to give a closer look to the second miniature, "Penny Garden; addicted to Nicotine," Hodges filled her in, "She died of a stroke, bleach represented in the miniature in little bleach coupons."

They moved to look at the third miniature, "Raymundo Suarez; Field worker at a chicken factory, died from electrocution. Bleach represented in a canister near the body."

They took a step toward the fourth miniature, "Barbara Tallman; Psychiatrist, died from intoxication, bleach was placed in the flower vases."

"What about this one?" Carol asked, still captivated by the mini red mustang.

"This baby was different," Hodges let her know, while looking at the mustang through the glass box.

"Yeah, it feels different," Carol agreed.

"Not bleach related, but revenge," Hodges let her know. "The doll there? It represents Grissom's girlfriend."

"Sara Sidle." Carol whispered, her eyes widening.

"How do you know about her?" Hodges was confused.

"Please don't tell me she died." Carol felt a knot in her throat.

"How do you know about her?" Hodges insisted.

"Oh God, this sucks." Carol was still shocked, thinking Sara was dead. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"The last past year, they worked together almost every case they had; including this one." Hodges started. "You know they kept their relationship in secret? But I knew there was something going on." Hodges smiled proudly. "Grissom always acted different around her, which kind of gave away how he felt about her."

"Grissom showed his romantic side with her." Carol smiled, happy for Sara.

"He brought her lunch once in a while, he just let himself be… human for the first time in his life." Hodges remembered.

"Do you know what's up with that cocoon?" Carol asked pointed out at the cocoon in the glass bowl.

"That's a gift Grissom gave Sara while he was away." Hodges let her know.

"Away?" Carol frowned confused.

"On his sabbatical."

"_How did you know?" Grissom __smiled as Hodges gave him a Williams' sweater he bought for him as a good luck gift. Grissom was taking a one month sabbatical to give a lecture at the Williams University in Massachusetts._

_He decided to leave the news until last minute, making both Hodges and Sara the only two that knew about it…_

"God," Carol interrupted, rolling her eyes at Hodges' arrogance.

"You want to hear the story or not?" Hodges folded his arms across his chest.

"Sorry, carry on."

…_He was on his way out to the airport when he found Sara in the lockers room, so decide__d to give her a last goodbye._

"_My cab is here." Grissom let her know, coming to stand next to the door._

"_So you're going." Sara smiled sadly._

_Grissom took a deep breath, __"Yeah."_

"_I'll see you when you get back." She turned back to her locker and continued to gather her stuff, after a few seconds she realized that Grissom was still standing there, so turned back to him._

"_I'll miss you." He managed to let her know before leaving. Sara just nodded and waited until he was gone to continue getting ready to go back home._

_Days passed by and Sara was fighting not to let know how much she was missing Grissom._

"We also had a clown covering him, his name was Keppler." Hodges let her know. "God, he only caused trouble for the lab."

"I can imagine." Carol agreed, trying to make him get back to the story.

"So this Keppler guy had this 'brilliant' idea of imitating this crime to make the killer confess, or something like that," Hodges continued. "It was too stupid to be understood." He rolled his eyes.

"Or maybe you all just didn't get it," Carol teased him.

"Anyways, Sara was too busy to be wondering what this Keppler guy had in mind…"

"_Ten to one that's internal affairs." __Hodges bet Sara about Keppler. "If you've got any dirty laundry, I would use bleach." He suggested, then went back to work._

_Sara went into the locker's room, but was curious about a small box that Grissom had sent her while he was away, so she decided to opened it right away. It was a cocoon, she couldn't help but to smile, then she looked for a note inside the box, but when she couldn't find one, sighed and wondered what that cocoon meant._

_The day Grissom came back was a busy day for the lab, so Sara didn't have time to give him an appropriate welcome._

"_Sara?" Grissom called out for her as she passed by his office._

"_Hey, you're back." She smiled, Grissom tried to get closer to her but she didn't let him, and took a step back. "I been out in a, um, been in a…"_

"_Garbage dump?" Grissom guessed, since Sara was covered with dirt and to be honest, she smelled a little, too._

"_Yeah, it's so obvious, isn't it?" Sara was now embarrassed. "Nice, um, you look good." Sara noticed his beard, still taking a step back every time he took a step forward._

"_Did you put the cocoon in my office?"_

"_Cool, dry, not a lot of light, seem like a right place for it." Sara explained._

"_I think you're going to be surprised when it hatches" Grissom hint her._

"_I have no doubt," Sara agreed. "I'm gonna go clean up, now." Sara smiled and turned around._

"_I'll see you later." Grissom called out._

"_Yeah, you will." Sara smiled at him one more time and left._

"And what was inside the cocoon?" Carol asked, now curious.

"It was this thing, you know," Hodges babbled scratching his head, "A very rear type of, you know…"

"You have no idea what was inside that cocoon, do you?" Carol cocked her eyebrow at Hodges.

"Can you believe that Grissom kept his beard for only a few weeks?" Hodges tried to change the subject, "I think he looks good with his beard, don't you?" Carol just looked at him, not sure what he was trying to say "I mean-"

"You don't need to explain yourself, Hodges." Carol let him know.

"So," Hodges cleared his throat, "A few weeks from there, I made the big discovery." Hodges let her know getting back to the miniatures. "It was my lucky day." He remembered about that slow night at the lab.

"Did you get in trouble for being sniffing around Grissom's office?" Carol asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Hodges was offended. "Grissom trusts me."

"So… back to Sara and Grissom?" Carol asked.

"So," Hodges continued, "That sabbatical gave him another perspective of his feelings for Sara."

"_So, you, um, been in a place__ like this before?" Sara asked while they were walking to the main house of_ _t__he __Binky's sugar cane Ranch_

"_I worked in a murde__r/suicide at the Naughty Kitty, once" _

"_No, no, you know what I mean." Sara clarified._

"_As a custo__mer? No." He answered._

"_You've never paid for sex?" _

"_I have not. I found the whole idea very bleak"_

"_Really, how come?" _

"_Sex provides the opportunity for human connection," he explained to her, "to pay for sex, is the opposite of that," he paused, weighing his words, "To me sex without love, it's pointless; it makes you sad."_

"_I'm pretty sure I don't make you sad, then?"__ Sara smiled at him._

"_No, you make me happy." He smiled back._

"Oh my God, that was so sweet." Carol couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, love makes you say things like that." Hodges sighed, noticing Wendy passing by outside the office. "Anyways," he continued, "A few months after that, we finally got the miniature killer."

"But it was already too late?" Carol asked.

"Sara went missing before we had a chance to realize the miniature killer's intentions," Hodges continued with his story, "Grissom came back to the lab after interrogating Natalie's father. He got into his office just to find a miniature of a red mustang with a little doll with a twitching hand under it."

"Twitching hand?" Carol frowned, "The doll is not moving her hand."

"Yeah." Hodges nodded, "Grissom drowned her." Carol was confused. "It was raining and Sara was under that car, and he wanted to know how the rain would affect the miniature, so he poured some water on it, and the doll stopped moving." Hodges clarified, rolling his eyes. "Can I go back to my story?"

"Yeah, sorry."

"So Grissom tried to call Sara, but it was already too late – Natalie had already kidnapped her," Hodges let her know, "The entire lab stopped doing whatever they were doing and helped with the search for Sara. The team took a closer look at the miniature, and that's how they found out that the red mustang came from one of Sara's latest cases; Natalie was at the crime scene, and that is where she found out about Sara and Grissom."

"Why would Natalie want to have revenge over Grissom, anyway?" Carol interrupted.

"Because she blamed him for the death of Ernie Dell." Hodges made it sound as if it was obvious.

"Who is Ernie Dell?" Carol was confused.

"Natalie's foster parent; Grissom blamed him over the miniatures so the guy killed himself," Hodges started to explain, "Who cares who Ernie Dell was?" Hodges shook his head.

"You are right, sorry."

_The team was confused, not understanding why Natalie took Sara if she had nothing to do with bleach, but all agreed that this time it felt different, so maybe it had nothing to do with bleach._

"_This girl holds me responsible for death of Ernie Dell," Grissom started to explain and think out loud, not realizing everybody else was hearing him, "I took away the only person she ever loved, so she's doing the same thing to me." _

"And that's how you guys find out, huh?" Carol guessed.

"Grissom, here are the DNA test results you were waiting for." Carol and Hodges heard Wendy say from outside the office.

"C'mon let's go…" Hodges tried to hurry Carol outside the office before Grissom found them there.

"I thought he let you hang out in his office." Carol grinned teasingly.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	7. Chapter 7

Carol and Hodges managed to get out of Grissom's office without him realizing.

"God, that was close." Hodges sighed, catching his breath.

"So what happened next?" Carol asked Hodges while they walked back to the lab.

"Well, we found the guy that sold the Mustang to Natalie, and the search for Sara Sidle began." Hodges remembered that long night. "Sara was a tough woman, you know."

"What do you mean?" Carol was starting to think that Sara survived the incident.

"I don't know how she did it." Hodges admitted, "But she got out from under that mustang on her own. We found her on one side of the road." He smiled. "She recovered pretty fast, or at least that's what it seemed."

"So where is she?" Carol finally asked.

"As you know, now everybody knew about Grissom and Sara, including Ecklie…"

_Sara came back to work after a few weeks of paid leave__; she immediately went into Ecklie's office and, of course, he got straight to the point._

"_You and your supervisor were in direct violation of the lab's policy." Ecklie told her firmly._

"_Are." Sara corrected him, also firm. Ecklie corrected himself and explained that romantic relationships between two members of the same team were not allowed._

"_Since when did you and supervisor Grissom begin your relationship?" Ecklie asked, taking notes._

"_We've always had a relationship." Sara teased him._

"_I mean, when did you become intimate?" Ecklie clarified._

"_Two years ago." Sara let him know. "I think it was a Sunday." _

_Later that day, after fighting to have a meeting with him, Ecklie finally found Grissom in his office and accused him of avoiding him. He let him know that Grissom handled the situation in the wrong way, and now he would have to deal with the matter. Ecklie proceeded to asked Grissom why he didn't say anything about his and Sara's relationship before._

"_We didn't want you to know." Grissom replied simply._

"_Don't most women want the world to know they are dating someone?"_

"_Where do you get your information about women, Conrad?" Grissom snapped back._

"_Okay, so when did you two__ … you know?" Ecklie continued._

"_Nine years ago." Grissom let him know._

"_You two need to get your story straight." Ecklie had enough._

"The forensic academy conference." Carol nodded.

"Yep." Hodges smiled back. "So Ecklie made one of them moved to Swing Shift, and after discussing it a few times, Sara did." Hodges continued, "It was obvious that this was affecting her. "But…" Hodges grinned, "A few weeks later."

"What?" Carol was loving that grin on Hodges face, realizing that it meant good news.

"You know the bee hive Grissom is working on?"

"Huh, the one at the back."

"_I love it when you__ dress up." Grissom teased Sara, seeing her in her bee-suit._

_Sara couldn't help __laugh, "Well, you know, whatever it takes to get some time with you," she countered. "How is the study going, any signs of colony collapse disorder?"_

"_No, so far it's healthy," Grissom let her know, walking over to the hive._

"_Nothing too healthy about smoking." Sara joked, coughing because of the smoke. Grissom started to explain to her why it was important to spread smoke over the bees' hive. Sara started asking about the bees and Grissom gladly answered her questions. After a few minutes he dared Sara to take her glove off._

"_Okay, I trust you." Sara said, and removed the article._

_Grissom was explaining about the bee's larvae while Sara was admiring a bee she had standing on her hand, Grissom took a second and looked at her nervously, "You know I think we should get married." He said, looking away. Sara's head snapped up._

_B__efore Sara could say anything, however, the bee that had been scouting her out stung her, and she flinched and pulled away. Grissom apologized for the sting and proceeded to take the stinger out and Sara just looked at him while he did._

"_So what do you think, I mean—" Grissom prodded, still not looking at her._

"_Yes__," Sara answered, smiling at him, "Let's do this."_

"Then,the morons tried to kiss still wearing those funny hats." Hodges chuckled. "The excitement about the engagement didn't last very long for Sara, since she was…" Hodges stopped trying to find the right word.

"Pregnant?" Carol guessed.

"…Being hunted by her past." Hodges corrected her, and frowned.

"What does that mean?" Carol folded her arms around her chest, suddenly angry.

"I'm not sure," Hodges admitted. "Something about her childhood and her incident with the Miniature Killer."

_One day, after trying to__ fight it off for several weeks, Sara was starting to loose strength; she was feeling incapable of continuing with her life at the lab. She felt she had to leave and move on. She had to confront her past to be able to live out her future, and she decided that she couldn't do that in Las Vegas._

"Her last day in Las Vegas was also her worst; she had just closed a case that brought out her bad memories about her childhood." Hodges sighed.

_After closing the case, Sara realized she couldn't stay. She met Grissom in front of his office and kissed __him without saying anything or letting him say a word, then walked away without looking back._

"Sara did leave Grissom a letter, though," Hodges let her know.

_Gil,_

_You know I love you. I feel I've loved you forever. Lately, I haven't been feeling very well. Truth be told, I'm tired. Out in the desert, under that car that night, I realized something and haven't been able to shake it. Since my father died, I spent almost my entire life with ghosts. We've been like close friends and out there in the desert; it occurred to me that it was time for me to bury them. I can't do that here._

_I'm so sorry. _

_No matter how hard I try to fight it off, I'm left with a feeling that I have to go. I have no idea where I'm going, but I know I have to do this. If I don't, I'm afraid I'll self-destruct and, worse, you'll be there to see it happen._

_Be safe._

_Know that I tried very hard to stay. Know that you are my one and only. I will miss you with every beat of my heart. Our life together was the only home I've ever really had. I wouldn't trade it for anything._

_I love you… __I always will._

_Goodbye. _

"Oh my God." Carol couldn't believe it. "She left? Just like that?"

"Yeah." Hodges had a serious look on his face.

"But she is coming back, right?" Carol was near tears. "I mean, after all these years? After finally having Grissom be there for her?"

Hodges just shrugged at her and sighed. "Only time will tell."

**THE END**

* * *

_Thanks for reading!_

_I love you all, and I hope you liked it!_

_GSR for ever!!!!_

_I miss Sara :o(_


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